Overuse of musculoskeletal tissues, such as tendons, plantar fascia, etc., can result in degenerative tissue (e.g., tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, etc.) leading to pain and disability.
The damaged tissue is typically treated with NSAIDS, corticosteroid injections, physical therapy, platelet rich plasma injections, percutaneous needle tenotomy, or open surgery. Percutaneous needle tenotomy (PNT) is a minimally invasive procedure in which a needle is introduced to break up the tissue (e.g., scarred tissue, degenerated tissue, pathological tissue, etc.). This micro trauma induces an acute injury thus restarting the healing cycle and helping new, healthy tissue to form. However, a physician typically performs a PNT with manual repeated fenestration (see, e.g., http://www.aapmr.org/education/Ultrasound/Tendinopathy/Documents/Finnoff-PRP.PDF, and http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-updates/physical-medicine-rehabilitation/treating-recalcitrant-tendinopathy) of the tissue with a needle or similar apparatus. Additionally, the procedure is typically performed in a surgical operating room setting thereby resulting in extensive costs.